Beam-lifting apparatus

ABSTRACT

A beam-lifting apparatus is described for lifting structural channel beams such as U, T, I, H or L-shaped beams utilizing hook means mounted to the ends of cables for inserting on the ends of the beams. The hook means includes two arm elements spaced by a web slot for receiving the web of the beam therein with the arms extending along the side of the web underneath the beam flange.

United States Patent Munson Mar. 7, 1972 [54] BEAM-LIFTING APPARATUS [72] Inventor: Chester R. Munson, 3129 E. 34th,

Spokane, Wash.

[22] Filed: July 30, 1970 [211 App]. No.: 59,431

[52] US. Cl. ..294/78 [51] Int. Cl. 866a 1/34 [58] Field of Search ..294/78, 82, 85, 92

[56] 1 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Renfroe et al. ..294/85 3,520,570 7/1970 Christopher et al. ..294/92 2,354,107 7/1944 Diamond ..294/78 Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-l. Kenneth Silverman Attorney-Wells, St. John & Roberts ABSTRACT A beam-lifting apparatus is described for lifting structural channel beams such as U, T, I, H or L-shaped beams utilizing hook means mounted to the ends of cables for inserting on the ends of the beams. The hook means includes two arm elements spaced by a web slot for receiving the web of the beam therein with the arms extending along the side of the web underneath the beam flange.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAR 11972 3.647, 254

I s V 2 d5 INVENTOR. Chesfer R Munson BY 17 wjne kg m BEAM-LIFTING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to devices for lifting structural channel beams and more particularly to hooks for engaging the ends of structural channel beams.

The time and effort required in handling heavy structural beams has been quite substantial. One of the most common methods for lifting beams is to wrap a cable around the beam at two spacial locations from the midpoint and lift the cable and carry the beam to a transporting vehicle and to unload the beam at the construction site. The procedure of hooking the cable around the beam is quite time-consuming. If it has not been hooked properly around the beam, a dangerous situation may be created should the beam fall from the cable.

Several attempts have been made to devise specific hooks for gripping channel beams, however none have met with substantial commercial success. One such hook is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,289. One of the problems of such a device is that the beam can be jarred from the hook causing the beam to fall.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a beam-lifting device having hook means for lifting a beam by its ends in which the hooks can be conveniently and easily attached to the beam with little or no likelihood that the beam can disengage from the hook.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a hook means that can be easily inserted over the end of a beam when it is desired to lift the beam and can be readily removed after the beam has been removed.

A further object of this invention is to provide a beam-lifting device having a hook element that substantially decreases the time required in moving a beam from one location to another.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a beamlifting device having a hook means that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture with no moving parts.

A further object of this invention is to provide a hook device specifically designed for handling various types of channel beams in which the devices are attachable to the ends of the beams without requiring access underneath the beams for attachment.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon the reading of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a hook means that is incorporated in a beam lifting device for lifting a structural channel beam;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the hook shown in FIG. 1 as being utilized for lifting a heavy metal plate having parallel beam ribs formed thereon with the hook elements engaging the end of the beam ribs;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line 3- 3 in FIG. 2, showing the hook device inserted on the end of one of the beam ribs;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the hook element inserted on the end of an I-beam; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line 5- 5 in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT This invention concerns a beam lifting device for lifting a structural channel beam 11 by its ends 12 and 13. The lifting device 10 is adaptable for use in lifting channel beams having various cross sections such as T," U," I, H and inverted L. The common feature of the channel beam that is important to this invention is that the channel beams all have a web 15 with at least one upper flange extending outward to the side perpendicular thereto. Probably the most basic channel would be the inverted L-shaped having a web 15 and a flange 16 extending outward to one side of the web. The T- shaped channel has a web and an upper flange that extends to both opposite sides of the web. The U-shaped channel has a web with an upper flange and a lower flange that extend outward from one side of the web. Both the H and I-shaped beams have an upper flange 16 and lower flange 17 (FIGS. 4 and 5) which extend to both sides of the web.

The beam lifting device 10 can be also utilized for lifting a heavy plate 20 having an upper surface 21 on which parallel beam ribs 22 and 23 have an inverted L-shaped cross section are welded to the plate 20 can be considered as an inverted L or U-shaped beam.

The beam lifting device 10 includes a crane winch cable 24 (FIG. 2) having a hook or ring 25 at the end thereof. Spur cables 26 and 27 are attached to the ring or hook 25 and extend outwardly toward the ends of the beam. Beam-lifting hooks 30 and 31 are attached to the end of the spur cables 26 and 27 respectively. Each of the lifting hooks 30, 31 include a body 33 (FIG. 1) that has an elongated T-shaped slot arrangement formed therein for receiving the end of the beam 11. The T- shaped slot arrangement includes an elongated flange slot 35 and an elongated web slot 36 that is at right angles to the flange slot 35. The width of the web slot 36 is greater than the thickness of the web 15 and less than the width of the flange 16. More specifically, the width of the web slot 36 is slightly greater than the thickness of the web so that the hook may be easily slid over the end of the beam to prevent the beam from rotating with respect to the hook.

The body 33 includes a top or nose element 38 that projects along the top of the flange 16 having a projecting end 39. The body 33 has two parallel lifting arm elements 40 and 41 that are spaced or separated by the web slot 36. The arm elements extend along both sides of the web 15 parallel with the nose element 38 in which at least one of the lifting arm elements is located beneath the projecting flange 16. For T, I and H beams, both arm elements 40 and 41 engage the underside of the flange 16 when the hook is elevated. For U and inverted L- shaped beams only the arm 41 engages the underside of the flange. The body 33 includes an interconnecting back 42 that interconnects the nose element and the lifting arm elements 40 and 41. The elongated flange slot 35 forms a crotch 44 in the body between the arm elements 40 and 41 and the nose element 38. The web slot 36 forms a crotch 45 in the body between the two lifting arm elements 40 and 41. The projecting end 39 of the nose element 38 has a transverse hole or aperture 48 formed therethrough for enabling the convenient connection between the hook 30, 31 and the spur cable 26, 27. Such a connection can be accomplished through a split clevis 50 (FIG. 3, 4 and 5) that is affixed to the end of the spur cable with a pin or bolt extending through the clevis and the hole 48. The location of the hole 48 is longitudinally offset from a center of gravity so that the ends of the arm elements 40 and 41 will have a tendency to pivot upward from a horizontal orientation.

The lifting arm elements 40 and 41 have relatively flat surfaces 54 and 55 respectively which engage the underside of the flange 16 for T, I and H-shaped beams. For T, I and H- shaped beams, the web slot 36 is vertically aligned with the nose element 38 to provide an even balance in which each arm element 40 and 41 engage the underside of the flange as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. However, for unbalanced U and inverted L-shaped beams the web slot 36 may be transversely offset a slight distance from the nose element 38 with the width of the lifting arm 41 being greater than the width of the arm 41 as shown in FIGS. 1-3. Such a provision counterbalances the unbalance of the U and inverted L-shaped book may be maintained in a substantially horizontal orientation during the lifting operation as shown in FIG. 3.

Although this invention may appear to be quite simple in retrospect, one must appreciate how cumbersome the previously attempted methods have been for lifting beams and plate structure as shown in FIG. 2. The normal method of lifting a plate such as the one shown in FIG. 2 was to cut holes in the ribs 22 and extend the cables through the holes, to lift the plate. It generally took between one-half hour and an hour to drill or cut the holes in the plate and to attach the cable. Now it takes less than one minute to attach the hook elements over the ends of the beam ribs for lifting the plate. The manual effort and time expended in moving the plates from the manufacturing site to a transportation vehicle and then from the transportation vehicle to the construction site has been considerably reduced.

It should be noted that no adjustments are required; the operator merely inserts the hook 30 and 31 over the ends of the beam and then raises the cables to lift the beam. After the beam has been moved to the desired location the operator merely slips the hooks off the ends of the beam.

It should be understood that the above described embodiment is simply illustrative of the principles of this invention and that numerous other embodiments may be readily devised by those skilled in the art without deviating from the principles thereof. Therefore, only the following claims are intended to define this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a beam-lifting apparatus for lifting a structural channel beam by its ends, in which the beam has a web and an upper perpendicular flange extending only to one side along the full length of the beam;

opposing hook means mounted at the end of cable segments facing each other for engaging the ends of the beam; each of said hook means having two arm elements separated by an intermediate elongated web slot to enable the hook means to fit over the end of the beam with the web received in the web slot and the arm elements extending longitudinally along both sides of the web with one arm element positioned below the upper flange to engage the upper flange and lift the beam end when the cable segments are raised;

each 'of said hook means having a nose element that is separated from the arm element by a flange slot in which the nose element is transversely offset from the web slot to receive the flange therein with the nose element extending longitudinally over the flange to more effectively balance the beam during the lifting operation.

2. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim 1,

wherein the arm element underneath the flange is wider than the other arm element.

3. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim l, wherein the flange slot and the web slot communicate with each other forming a T-shaped slot arrangement for receiving the end of the beam with the arm elements and the nose elements extend longitudinally inward from the end of the beam for gripping the beam end as the cable segment is raised.

4. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim I, wherein the width of the web slot is slightly greater than the thickness of the web.

5. In a beam-lifting apparatus for lifting a structural channel beam by its ends, in which the beam has a web and at least one upper perpendicular flange that extends the length of the beam:

cable segments extendible to the ends of the beam;

opposing hook means mounted at ends of the cable segments;

each of said hook means having a body with two parallel arm elements extending therefrom in which the arms are separated by an intermediate elongated web slot having a width slightly greater than the thickness of the web to receive the web therein;

said body having a nose element extending therefrom parallel to the arm elements that is separated from the arm elements by a flange slot of sufficient width to receive the flange therein; and wherein the flange slot and the web slot communicate with each other forming a T-shaped slot arrangement for receiving the ends of the beam therein with the arm elements extending longitudinally inward from the end of the beam alongside the web and the nose element extending longitudinally inward form the end of the beam immediately over the flange to grip the beam end therein and prevent the beam from rotating as the cable segments are raised.

6. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein the cable segment is attached to the nose element at a selected transverse and longitudinal location which is transversely aligned with the center of gravity of the hook means and which is longitudinally offset from the center of gravity of the hook means to create a bending moment when the hook is raised tending to pivot the ends of the arm elements upward. 

1. In a beam-lifting apparatus for lifting a structural channel beam by its ends, in which the beam has a web and an upper perpendicular flange extending only to one side along the full length of the beam; opposing hook means mounted at the end of cable segments facing each other for engaging the ends of the beam; each of said hook means having two arm elements separated by an intermediate elongated web slot to enable the hook means to fit over the end of the beam with the web received in the web slot and the arm elements extending longitudinally along both sides of the web with one arm element positioned below the upper flange to engage the upper flange and lift the beam end when the cable segments are raised; each of said hook means having a nose element that is separated from the arm element by a flange slot in which the nose element is transversely offset from the web slot to receive the flange therein with the nose element extending longitudinally over the flange to more effectively balance the beam during the lifting operation.
 2. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the arm element underneath the flange is wider than the other arm element.
 3. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim l, wherein the flange slot and the web slot communicate with each other forming a T-shaped slot arrangement for receiving the end of the beam with the arm elements and the nose elements extend longitudinally inward from the end of the beam for gripping the beam end as the cable segment is raised.
 4. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim l, wherein the width of the web slot is slightly greater than the thickness of the web.
 5. In a beam-lifting apparatus for lifting a structural channel beam by its ends, in which the beam has a web and at least one upper perpendicular flange that extends the length of the beam: cable seGments extendible to the ends of the beam; opposing hook means mounted at ends of the cable segments; each of said hook means having a body with two parallel arm elements extending therefrom in which the arms are separated by an intermediate elongated web slot having a width slightly greater than the thickness of the web to receive the web therein; said body having a nose element extending therefrom parallel to the arm elements that is separated from the arm elements by a flange slot of sufficient width to receive the flange therein; and wherein the flange slot and the web slot communicate with each other forming a T-shaped slot arrangement for receiving the ends of the beam therein with the arm elements extending longitudinally inward from the end of the beam alongside the web and the nose element extending longitudinally inward form the end of the beam immediately over the flange to grip the beam end therein and prevent the beam from rotating as the cable segments are raised.
 6. In the beam-lifting apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein the cable segment is attached to the nose element at a selected transverse and longitudinal location which is transversely aligned with the center of gravity of the hook means and which is longitudinally offset from the center of gravity of the hook means to create a bending moment when the hook is raised tending to pivot the ends of the arm elements upward. 